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ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over the alarming pollution levels, Prime Minister Imran Khan invited Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to join hands to save the world from the dangers of climate change.
Prime Minister Imran Khan in his letter said, “Climate change is one of the defining global challenges faced by our generation. It has far-reaching adverse economic, social and political impacts,” he added.
“There is an urgent need for simultaneously raising ambition for climate action, while also building resilience and adapting to the inescapable impacts of climate change,” read the letter.
He said Pakistan is on the front lines of the climate challenge and is amongst the top countries continuously impacted by climate change over the past two decades but at the same time it is a very low contributor to the issue, adding less than one percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
A result-oriented dialogue and collaboration between expert teams of both sides can mutually assist to advance the shared vision, the prime minister added.
This could include developing partnerships towards access and deployment of the best available technologies for clean energy and electric vehicles as well as cooperating towards climate-resilient agriculture, he added.
Earlier, Bill Gates had appreciated China’s efforts in the fight against climate change and its contributions to carbon reduction, saying that the world benefits from the country’s efforts to make green energy more affordable.
Talking to an internal news channel, Bill Gates said, “It’s great that President Xi is making climate a priority and wants to work with other countries on this.”
“Without the contributions of China, many of the key ingredients in fighting climate change like the batteries and solar power wouldn’t be so affordable,” the Microsoft owner added.
He further said that China was also doing a lot to build up its electricity grid to use more renewable energy. “I hope that innovators in China can bring down the cost of green energy enough so that China can even increase its commitment to using renewable energy in the Belt and Road Initiative,” he added.
Citing many sources of emissions like steel and cement factories, Gates said that the world cannot skip over any of these to reach zero emissions. “To solve these problems, innovation is a key,” Gates said, noting that Chinese companies are increasing their R&D budgets.
“Climate change and innovation are areas that China and the United States could achieve big win-win results,” he said, adding that both countries have amazing smart people in the younger generation that would be proud to be part of this.